The world was much different when Richard Cordray was preparing for his first appearance on
Jeopardy! 27 years ago.

“That was half a lifetime ago,” he said. “My knowledge is sort of frozen in time. There are
whole new countries since then — like in eastern Europe — and new capitals.”

The Grove City native, in those days a 27-year-old law clerk, became a five-time daily champion
on the game show.

At twice the age he was then, he has made a return visit as part of the “Battle of the Decades”
series.

“I found that my preparation for this show was like doing an archaeological dig inside my own
mind, getting down to things I did once know,” said Cordray, who heads the federal Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau in Washington.

This week,
Jeopardy! is pitting champions from the 1980s.

The episode featuring Cordray — taped in December in Culver City, Calif. — will air at 7 p.m.
Wednesday on WBNS-TV (Channel 10).

Show rules prevent him from discussing the results.

In April 1987, Cordray won $40,803 during a five-day winning streak — the maximum period that a
contestant could compete until 2003, when the restriction was lifted.

He was a year out of law school and working as a clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court in
Washington.

“I made more money on
Jeopardy! than I did working for the federal government for a whole year,” he said.

He added $5,000 to his total in November 1987 while competing in a Tournament of Champions,
featuring weekly winners from the year.

Show producers contacted him several times through the years asking him to compete in “all-star”-
type shows. According to show rules, however, he was ineligible because he was either running for
public office or planning to run soon, he said.

In his latest job, Cordray splits his time between Washington and Grove City, where his family —
wife Peggy and 15-year-old twins Danny and Holly — lives.

While studying for his recent appearance, he said, he realized that most of what he has learned
during the past 27 years wouldn’t help him on the show.

“Ohio government, the financial and economic and banking worlds, the legal world — none of that
is going to come up,” he said.

The five daily winners from the 1980s will compete against five each from the 1990s and 2000s
beginning with the quarterfinals on May 5.

The championships will air on May 15-16, with a $1 million grand prize at stake.

“I am excited for our viewers to see contestants from the early years of the show back in
action,”
Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek said in a statement.

“Even though this group first played the game decades ago, they’re just as sharp and competitive
now as they were then.”